Overview of Technical Writing

So many people that I’ve encountered both in-person and online have no idea what technical writing really is. Some think it’s just about writing short memos. Worse yet, people who don’t have an interest or passion in the industry think it’s just about copying and pasting the text they’re given. As a senior tech writer who has spent most of my career in a software development industry, I tell people that my profession is often more “technical” than “writing.”

What is technical writing really about?

As tech writers, we need to be good at writing, and to understand grammar, style, and other writing conventions. Technical writing involves a lot more than just writing though. We need to understand the needs of the target audience we’re writing for and have a thorough understanding of the doc set for the product or solution.

It’s also important to understand the technology, and to test procedures and other content. That includes testing straightforward end user content, deployment and administration procedures, and command line interfaces. It all depends on what kind of content is required and who it is being created for. After all, how can you thoroughly explain a concept you don’t understand? Other people are involved with reviewing content, but how can we, as technical documentation experts, know that it’s thorough and provides all the information the reader needs without using the content ourselves?

Technical writers often will partner with engineers, system verification teams, product managers and other stakeholders to assess strategy and gather information. However, we should not be asking: “Tell me exactly what to write and where to put it.” Anyone who does this is essentially trying to get someone else to do their work. Sure, people are welcome to provide feedback and recommendations. As professionals, we need to be willing to accept that feedback. However, a technical writer is not a secretary or administrative assistant, and we most certainly are not copy-paste bots. We do more than just edit text provided by someone else, and when we do edit content, it is essential to ensure that it remains clear and accurate. As technical writers or content developers, we need to be the experts of our domain.

If you want to be a technical writer, approach the job with confidence, master the technology, and try to understand what your target audience needs.

Do you need a computer science or engineering degree? Can you master the technology without that?

Yes, technology and technical accuracy are important, but you don’t necessarily need an engineering degree. It might be useful, but it’s not enough to make you a good technical writer. You don’t need to be an engineer to have a good technical aptitude and you can master the tech over time. After you’ve built up a lot of practical experience, the type of degree you have probably won’t matter.

I don’t have an engineering or computer science degree. When I started applying to universities as a teenager, I had no idea that I would find my passion, my driving force in technical writing, project management, UX/CX, and tech in general. Even though this hasn’t been an issue, I probably would have gotten a software engineering degree if I knew how much I would love tech. Hindsight is 20/20, but at the end of the day, it shouldn’t really matter.

If you’re just starting out, you can master writing technical content no matter what degree you have. Like with any other profession, passion, enthusiasm, and a willingness to learn are key.